Richmond man wins $98,000 on Kentucky lottery ticket

RICHMOND, Ky. – A Richmond man hit the jackpot on a Kentucky Lottery draw game ticket.

Lottery officials say the man, who wishes to remain anonymous, bought a $2 Fast Play – BIG W!N ticket at a Kroger at Richmond Plaza.

Officials say he bought the ticket using spare change.

“I always get a Powerball ticket every time I walk out of Kroger, so after I bought that I had $2 left, so I bought the Fast Play ticket,” he said. “It was a fluke, really. I had a couple of extra bucks and thought, why not?”

When he looked at the ticket, the Kentucky Lottery says he initially thought he won $96 and put the ticket away to cash in later.

A few days later, the man says he brought the ticket in and was told it couldn’t be cashed out since it was more than the store could pay out.

He says he then went to a local Walmart, where a clerk scanned it.

The man was not able to cash it either, leading the anonymous winner to look at the ticket and see where it said “jackpot.”

“I thought it was just $96, but it turned out to be much more. I couldn’t believe it!” he said.

Next, he shared the exciting news with his wife.

“He told me to not trip out, so I’m already thinking it’s something bad,” she said. “No, it’s nothing like that. It’s good news,” he told her. “That’s awesome, it’s really going to help us,” she said.

He and his wife came to Lottery headquarters earlier this month, where he received a check for $71,007.84 after taxes.

When asked about plans for the winnings, he said, “We’ve been wanting to buy a home for a long time, and this will give us more options,” his wife said. They also plan to get a new vehicle and save the rest for the future.

As for future lottery plans, the winner said, “I’ll definitely keep playing Powerball and play Fast Play every now and then, but I won’t go crazy. Just a ticket or two here and there.”

The current Powerball jackpot is an estimated $700 million. The next drawing takes place on Saturday, Aug. 23 at 11 p.m.